The fundamental problem facing today's content companies is that consumers don't think they need to pay for the product. For all the talk about how the market will find a solution -- people will pay for what's valuable to them! -- the sad fact is most consumers will throw down 20 bucks for Friday night drinks without thinking twice, but would be deeply offended if asked to cough up the same amount to access a newspaper website, or to pay "full price" for a magazine subscription. (And let's be honest, $20 wouldn't even cover printing and postal charges on an annual mag subscription).

So what happens when all those news sites and newspapers and news magazines go out of business, because advertising is drying up and no one's paying the bills? What exactly would readers will be willing to pay for, just to make sure it doesn't disappear? David Cohn is betting  the answer is investigative journalism, on a local and personal scale.

Using $340,000 in seed funding from a Knight Foundation grant, Cohn launched the website Spot.us as an experiment in paid journalism -- want a professional journalist to find out where the school board funds really disappeared to? Pony up some cash and pay a reporter to hit the pavement and find out. (Most journos are asking for about $1,000 per story assignment.) The jury is still out on whether it will work, but it's a more market-oriented solution than others posed recently that call for a federal bailout for journalists, or the establishment of an international endowment for investigative journalism.

Two interviews with Cohn about his experimental journalism platform can be found here, on the "eat sleep publish" blog, and here, on the Innovation in College Media site.

Remember pop-up stores, like the temporary ones Target opens to promote designer partnerships? Well, three recently laid off journalists are taking that concept to the web with the launch of their new pop-up website, Recessionwire. Laura Rich and Sara Clemence were both laid off from jobs at the Portfolio website, but instead of wallowing in self-pity, they joined forces with friend and fellow writer Lynn Parramore to launch a site chronicling what they're calling "the upside of the downturn." The site isn't meant to be a long-term project -- instead, it will last only as long as the recession does, and as long as their observations and tips for how to survive are useful to their audience.

It's an interesting experiment in journalism: Finding a niche defined not just by audience, but defined by a particular moment in time. And perhaps, in the same way that setting a six-season limit on the television series Lost helped juice the writers' creativity (and audience interest) by giving them parameters within which to work, knowing that there's a end-goal in sight may keep Recessionwire's founders laser-focused on their readers' needs.

It's also a smart career move: Laid off? No problem. Launch a web community with a concept that not only keeps your skills sharp and your writing in the public eye, but actually becomes the inspiration for a regular feature on the site. Check out their "Lemonade Makers" series, which spotlights others who have taken economic lemons and made ... well, you know.  

I did an interview recently with Sports Media Guide, a website affiliated with The Sports Institute at Boston University that "explores the art and craft of sports coverage." Along with the questions you might expect on a sportswriting site (favorite hotel on the road, favorite restaurant at home & away) and of an ESPN The Magazine editor (variations on the themes of whether ESPN is, in fact, the evil empire, and whether The Mag tries too hard to be hip), there were a lot of questions about the current state of affairs in media and journalism, and how one can protect and build a journalism career in uncertain times.

We're nervous these days. The economy is in freefall. Newspapers and magazines are closing up shop daily, and the ones that remain are shedding staff like crazy. Perhaps most importantly, people are finally figuring out that giving content away for free all these years means that now we can't pay the bills and keep great journalism in business.

But I'm a believer that desperate times don't simply call for desperate measures -- they actually create the perfect environment for creative thinkers to move to the top. Prospects right now for creating a rewarding career in media aren't great, which means a lot of folks who are laid off will decide it's just not worth it and will look for another line of work. But for those who remain, there is a unique opportunity right now to find a new model -- for careers, yes, but also for the future of content itself. I won't attempt yet to propose a solution to that last quandary, but below I've posted my answers to a couple of the journalism career-related questions from the interview. You can read the full SMG piece here. (Full access right now; once a new interview goes up, you'll have to log-in to reach mine. It's free.)

Q: The journalism business is in transition - many journalists are spooked. What advice can you give for surviving and thriving in the industry?

A:  Two pieces of advice: First, be relentless about developing great story ideas. In this business, you are as good as your last story. The people who are constantly pushing their comfort zones as reporters, writers and editors; the journalists who aren't afraid to look for fresh ideas in unusual places; the pros who aren't intimidated by trying new storytelling techniques or sharing them through different mediums ... those are the ones who will succeed.

Second, be great to work with. Your last story isn't simply judged by the intellectual caliber of your idea or the technical facility of your prose. It is also judged according to how nicely you played with others. Reputations matter in this business - make sure to keep yours polished and professional.

Q. You have your own website, alisonoverholt.com. How important is self-promotion in journalism? How does one go about it?

A. I think it's incredibly important. You can't rely on the company you work for today to safeguard your professional future. A company's job is to make money - if the company can do that while promoting you to the outside world? Well that's fantastic, but it isn't always going to happen. Ensuring the longevity of your career is your job, and you should take the responsibility seriously by doing two essential things:

1. Produce great work.
2. Let people know about it.

One of the easiest things to do is put up a site to archive your work and provide an ongoing chronicle of who you are as a media professional. If you don't have time to put together a whole site, just start a blog and add a resume with links to recent work. It forces you to stay current with your resume and to keep track of clips -- and in a world where newspapers, magazines and websites are folding with frightening frequency, keeping those up to date is crucial.

For freelance writers, this is especially important, because a professional site is an important marketing tool. When your site link is in your email signature every time you send a message, people can easily click through and see what you're working on and whether you're a real pro. When you pitch editors, it's an easy way to send clips without annoying them with large file attachments that could crash their email or wind up in the junk folder. If you're trying to break in, maintaining a blog is the quickest way to show editors your writing voice. For writers on staff, it can get a little trickier, since some companies don't allow full-time employees to blog outside the confines of the publication. Obviously you should follow your employee policy, but it's worth asking about. Maybe you can blog about something outside of sports as a way to explore a new interest. You just never know where the next opportunity will come from ... For example, I'm starting a blog for weightwatchers.com soon about the struggle to eat healthy in a junk food-riddled office environment. They invited me to do it because they read about my, um, questionable eating habits in my bio on my site.

And there are other, more subtle ways to keep your name on people's minds: Speak at events, teach a class, offer to mentor young journalists, make the effort to attend events and meet new people on a regular basis, make introductions between fellow professionals who you think would hit it off. It may sound counter-intuitive -- What? I should hook up other people with jobs? But then they'll get a competitive jump on me! -- but I am a firm believer that what goes around comes around. When you go out of your way to help other people, and you do it consistently, people will remember you. They will see your name regularly; they will remember that you gave them a leg up without asking anything in return. They will think of you as being a friendly, helpful, "in the know" kind of person, and the next time an opportunity comes up, they will be very likely to call you about it.

Q. In general, how should freelancers approach editors?

A. With a great idea, a good attitude and a lot of enthusiasm.

Q. What are the elements of a good pitch letter? What's the best pitch letter you've seen at the Magazine?

A. 1. Make clear that you are a writer pitching a freelance writing idea - you'd be surprised how many freelancer emails come through that sound like they're from publicists.

2. Keep your pitch brief - never make your query letter longer than your proposed piece would be.

3. Convey the essential nugget of your idea in the writing style that you would write the piece in. Show the editor what you've got.

4. Include enough background detail and supporting material to demonstrate that you've done some reporting. Show the editor that a) you know this story actually has legs, and b) this story is right for the specific publication, section and audience that you are pitching it for.

5. Include your credentials and make a case for why you are the right writer for this particular story -- that's nearly as important as the quality of the idea itself.

6. Go back to #4 and make sure you know for sure that the story and the specific angle are right for the publication and its audience. There's nothing worse than a misdirected pitch.

7. Call ahead and find out who the right editor is to send it to; send it directly to that editor.

Best pitch I've seen? One from a freelance writer named Mark Anders who I was interested in for surfing stories, after reading his stuff in Outside  and Surfing Magazine. Then he pitched me a story about Tyson Gay's old high school sprinting rival, Casey Combest - it was a perfect combination of smooth writing and an inside take on a big name in advance of Beijing, from the perspective of a washed-up former rival who was watching Gay's star rise and wishing he hadn't let his own life go so far off the rails. And Mark, who I'd never thought of as a writer outside the surfing world, made a great case for why he should write it: He'd already reached out to the kid and done some preliminary reporting, and had been granted exclusive access while Combest participated in a documentary film that was planned for release after the Olympics. We assigned it to him, and it's my favorite story that never ran - Combest's comeback got cut short last spring when he failed to make the cut at several amateur meets - though a version of the piece did run on our website. But that pitch really broke through the clutter in my inbox and impressed me, and I have had a high opinion of Mark Anders as a freelance writer ever since.